Ian McNaughton Set to Leave GlobalFoundries

In the past, we either broke or announced multiple high-level arrivals into GlobalFoundries. This article is the first one announcing a departure of one of key figures in the industry.

Originally, we thought that Ian McNaughton was a member of the brain drain that happened after AMD spun off GlobalFoundries, but in turn – Ian decided to throw in the towel and start dedicating more of his life to the family. Given the amount of moves Ian and his great kids did in the past seven years, one must come to a logical conclusion that the time has come to set some roots.

Ian McNaughton Announces Departure from the Industry on Facebook

I’ve met Ian long-long time ago, during Abit’s ACON5 event in June of 2005 in Xian, China. Given the quality of food, together we were queuing up in local Starbuckses, McDonald’s and KFC – which are a must if you’re allergic to food cooked on fat [like myself]. Ian was always a big enthusiast and gaming evangelist, which were the roles he had at then ATI Technologies, and later in Advanced Micro Devices [Ian left for AMD after that event and worked inside AMD on gaming strategy which resulted in taking over ATI Technologies – after the NVIDIA-AMD merger negotiations crashed’n’burned in August 2005].

In case you might not know, Ian was a key instrument in delivering many of gaming technologies to the market, even though his official titles could lead to a different conclusion. However, Ian was a key member of a rat pack lead by Chris Hook, Jon Carvill, Godfrey Chang and Terry Makedon, which significantly influenced ATI and AMD, causing a lot of long faces among AMD "9-5" oldtimers.

Be that as it may, Jon Carvill, Jason Gorss and Ian McNaughton lead GlobalFoundries charge in the world of mainstream media and customers, while Captain Hook, Godfrey and now Terry are shifting AMD inside-out to merge a conventional CPU with their creative GPU and create an APU.

However, don’t discount Ian yet? his primary target now is to stay at home and I have a sneaky suspicion that the world of technology hasn’t parted its ways with one of its truthful, "to the bone" enthusiasts.

About the AuthorTheo Valich

Focused on creating synergy between various industries, creating next-gen solutions.Passionate about the new and emerging technologies. Work experience spans from game development and event organizing, editing magazine and on-line publications to aerospace development.Specialties: Team Leadership / Management / Technical Consultant / Funding.Enjoys travelling around the world and meeting new people. :)